The year had no killings directly attributed to drugs or to domestic violence

Washington County's nine homicides in 2007 included two accidental shootings, two police shootings and one for which the exact cause of death remains unknown.

Another of last year's homicides was determined to be self-defense, and authorities said one was a murder-suicide. Arrests on murder charges have been made in the remaining two cases.

Since 2000, the average annual number of deaths at the hands of another in the county is eight. In 2006, Washington County had 11 homicides, in part because of a triple killing and three police shootings.

A spike in gang activity occurred in 2007, but most of the incidents fell short of homicide, said Robert W. Hermann, Washington County district attorney.

"They missed when they shot at somebody, or the person didn't die when they were stabbed or beaten," Hermann said. "The attempted murders could easily have been homicides."

Other good news is that none of the 2007 homicides apparently involved domestic violence, Hermann said. "We used to have a lot of domestic homicides in Washington County," he said.

None of the homicides directly involved drugs, either, Hermann said. "At one time, just about everything was drug-related," he said.

Songseumsack Tanovan, 53, died May 16 in his Hillsboro home of two gunshot wounds. Tanovan's son had called 9-1-1 to report his father might be having a stroke. When help arrived, Tanovan shot a rifle at paramedics, a police car and randomly into his neighborhood. When he fired at police from his front porch, six officers shot back. The district attorney's office determined the shooting was justified.

Constantino Cruz, 27, died of gunshot wounds May 20 in his car outside his parents' Aloha home. Police think the shooting was gang-related and have arrested three Hillsboro-area men on charges of murder and unlawful use of a weapon. Casimiro Blancas, 25, and Luis Alberto Gonzalez, 23, are set to go to trial March 4. A trial for Pablo Guzman, 18, is set for June 10.

Scott Rutherford, 16, of Beaverton died July 9 when he was accidentally shot in the abdomen by his older brother Kyle Rutherford, 21, while they were target shooting in the woods near Oregon 47 and U.S. 26. The older brother shot an AK-47 assault rifle at what he thought was an inanimate object, believing his brother was back in the car.

Ryan Miller, 25, of Aloha was shot to death Aug. 24 when he tried to force his way into an acquaintance's King City apartment. The district attorney's office determined that Michael Barefoot, 25, acted in self-defense when he shot Miller. The two had been drinking and got into an argument while walking to Barefoot's apartment, where Miller broke down the door. Barefoot suffered a broken shoulder and a swollen eye as a result of the fight.

Gerardo Pizano Arteaga, 45, of Hillsboro was found unconscious Sept. 23 behind Joe's Pastime Tavern on East Main Street in Hillsboro and was declared dead the next day. Police say Pizano had a crushed skull, but it has not been determined whether he was hit by a car or beaten with a heavy object. The case remains unsolved, and police have no leads.

Robert Gaedke, 55, was found shot to death Oct. 30 in a bedroom of his Bethany home. Police said Ross Gaedke, 22, killed his stepfather and then himself several days earlier in the home they shared. The elder Gaedke was divorced from Ross Gaedke's mother.

Alla Bogdanov, 21, was found dead Nov. 14 in her parents' Bull Mountain home outside Tigard. Firefighters responding to a house fire found the massage therapist's body in an upstairs bedroom. The cause of death has not been released, but Mikkal Kane Buxton, 30, of Southeast Portland has been indicted on a murder charge in Bogdanov's death. Police think Buxton, a former classmate of Bogdanov's at masseuse school, killed the woman and set the fire to cover up the killing. He was arrested the next day in Reno, Nev. Bogdanov had planned to meet Buxton for a practice massage session the day she was found dead. Buxton's release hearing is set for Feb. 19. A trial date has not been scheduled.

Steve G. Stanturf, 37, of Aloha died Nov. 24 when he was shot by two Washington County sheriff's deputies. The district attorney's office determined the shooting was justified because Stanturf fired three shots from his front porch at deputies responding to a report that a man was drunk, armed and suicidal after a domestic disturbance. The deputies returned fire, and Stanturf was hit by three of the four shots.

Kimberly Osbrink, 24, died Dec. 16 after being shot in her Tualatin home. The shooting remains under investigation, but preliminary findings are that she was accidentally shot by her husband, Ryan Osbrink, while he was practicing drawing his .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol from a holster. He was to have started work as a Clark County sheriff's deputy later that week.